Prison blaze kills at least 81 inmates in Chile

Relatives of inmates react to news of inmate deaths outside San Miguel prison after a fire broke out in the building, killing at least 81 inmates in Santiago on Wednesday, Dec. 8. Fire engulfed the prison in the Chilean capital early on Wednesday.

Claudio Santana / AFP - Getty Images

Relatives of inmates wait for news outside the San Miguel prison in Santiago on Wednesday.

Claudio Santana / AFP - Getty Images

An inmate waves a Chilean flag from his cell at the San Miguel prison following a fire on Wednesday. Officials called it the worst-ever disaster at a Chilean prison.

Aliosha Marquez / AP

Relatives of inmates at the San Miguel prison react as they listen to the list of names of inmates who died in a fire in Santiago, Chile on Wednesday.

Fire engulfed a prison in the Chilean capital early on Wednesday, killing 81 inmates and critically injuring 14 others, prison officials said, in the worst-ever accident in the country's jail system. Officials said the fire was triggered during an early-morning fight between inmates in one of the crowded prison's five towers. Television footage showed part of the San Miguel prison in flames, black smoke billowing from the building.